001might be out. >> Good evening everyone. Um, the Rancho Public Schools Board of Education meeting for Monday, July 28th is now called to order. If you'd all please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Board member Gary Tripolitus. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> JC will take a roll call for us. >> President >> present. >> Vice President Morgan >> present. >> Secretary Tyler. >> Board member >> present. Board member Miller, you have a board. >> Thank you. We'd like to excuse our two board members who aren't able to be here tonight. It's always summer sometimes is hard with work, travel, and all of those other things. So, but we'd like to welcome everyone who's here. We have
002some great commendations tonight, which we'll talk about shortly, and so we have a great um showing in the boardroom tonight. Um tonight, we will start with our introductory comments by our superintendent of schools, Dr. Visu Cleveland. >> Thank you. And again, we appreciate you all being here for the meeting this this evening. We are at a point where we're on the countdown now to the start of school and uh it's not many days and there's been a really busy summer, but we're getting there and things look good and we're um really hopeful for a very good year. Uh before this meeting, the audit committee met. Um the uh audit for the last school year is currently underway and it is being conducted by the Beasley Mitchell accounting firm and they are a firm that have
003both uh offices in both Los Cusus and El Paso. And of course the audits focus is to ensure that our district is in compliant with all of our state and federal regulations and requirements. And uh this is the um the audit committee uh for the 2025 2026 uh school year. We have some upcoming events at Riot and that we're excited. We're going to have an open house for the community uh on the 30th and hope that anyone who has an interest in seeing inside the building uh will come for the tour. Uh the facility will be open to the community from 6:00 to 8 and we will have people there to direct and guide um visitors through the complex. So uh it's a wonderful facility and if you have any interest in it at all
004really hope that you will come on uh on the 30th. We also have a group coming tomorrow uh which is um the New Mexico Oil and Gas um Association and they wanted to tour the facility and so they will be there uh in the morning. They are bringing representatives from all of the major New Mexico oil and gas companies that operate in our state and they have also invited key legislators and other community leaders to join them for the tour and so we're very excited for them to come. We have all of our almost all of our delegation who will be there, but we have a lot of other uh legislators who play really key roles in the decisions that affect funding and programs in the state of New Mexico. And so we welcome those
005legislators from other from other areas, other districts uh because we all are really pushing statewide to improve our career technical programs across the state. We have this evening donation and as you know our board policy uh requires that the board accept all grants or uh or donations. The Rio Rancho Education Foundation is here this evening. We're glad they are here. They'll be presenting a grant for building thinking classrooms and Linda Kimley who also serves on that uh board will share uh more information and perhaps others will as well about this wonderful initiative. But uh whole focus was on helping students become critical thinkers and to analyze problems and find uh creative ways to solve them. But we thank the foundation for providing this very generous and a very important grant for our district. And uh
006as I said the board will be asked to accept that grant funding this evening. We also have a recognition and that's not the first this year uh for this individual. Uh this recognition will be presented by Michelle Havl who is our executive director of student services and she will share additional information with you regarding this rec recognition. Uh this is a national award and it has been given to uh Len Wheeler our director of nursing services for the district. The award is for the 2025 leaison of the year and we offer our heartfelt congratulations to Lynn and as you know she's had some other commendations uh recently and so we're very lucky to have her in our our district. This organization awards certifications for school nurses nationwide. We also have some athletic commendations for some
007of our coaches this evening. Uh these awards are being presented on behalf of the New Mexico High School Coaches Association and uh will be presented and acknowledged by Todd Rash uh our athletic director for the district. Our um Madison Weaver is a spirit coach of the year and Madison is at Cleveland. Softball assistant coach of the year is Ricky Castillo also from Cleveland. And then Rathbar is um has been awarded a very coveted award, coaching for character award. And so um I'm sorry, it's for Eric Jack. And uh and he is from Rio Rancho High School. Sorry, got that backwards. And congratulations to all three of you for your outstanding work. It's a real honor. It's just really a a real honor and very unusual to uh have one district have three of those recognitions
008in a single year. And I think what's you know very special about it is these are individuals who have been recognized by their peer coaches from across the entire state. I get to reading the PowerPoint instead of you looking what I'm supposed to be doing. Um, and these are the three individuals. And again, congratulations. We also have this evening a recognition uh for the uh statewide district athletic director of the year. And I would tell you, Ria Rancho public schools has a rich history uh of our athletic directors being awarded this honor. And this evening, we are really pleased to recognize Todd Rash. He received the award of the district athletic director for New Mexico for this year. We congratulate Todd, but we also thank him for all of his hard work and for all
009of the efforts he puts into producing very fine athletic programs in the Rio Rancho public school district. And so, uh, we will also be recognizing, um, athletic director Todd Rush. This evening we have um a request for fee adjustments and the board will be asked to consider some fee adjustments in three areas. Uh facility use agreements, gate receipts and parking permits. And this presentation will be made by Mike Baker who will explain the rationale for his request and explain what the fees are being used to fund in our schools at the present time. We will have the second reading on the wireless communication devices. The information uh regarding board action will be presented by Michelle Havl, our executive director of student services. This will be a second reading. So, the board is being asked this
010evening to consider action on this policy. Unless you request it, we won't read through the whole policy again because we did go through it at the last meeting. But if you would like for us to do that again, we would be glad to do so. Uh while Rio Rancho has uh certainly already made a lot of strides in this area, some changes are needed due to the last legislative session where action was taken. And so the really big shift now is is a decision that we made as a district to do that to now this being a state law requirement for all school districts and all students. And so because this reflects uh statutory requirements and it is required for all districts, we will be asking our staff, our parents and students um to uh
011be very supportive in compliance because there are going to be consequences for non-compliance and uh we need to all be on the same page and working to make this a reality in our district. We also have a couple of policy out uh for for travel updates. Uh the board is being asked to consider changes to two travel related policies. The proposed changes will be a first reading for the policy updates and therefore the board will can't take any action on either of those items this evening. And the two topics are trips by students and um and then travel premium and mileage payments for for staff. and we will um we will go over those proposed changes and the rationale for why. Are there any comments or questions? >> Questions from the group. >> No questions.
012>> Thank Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Co. We appreciate it. Okay. Next, we we'll go to approve the prioritize agenda and proposed time allocations. >> Board member Jeff Morgan. I make a motion to approve the prioritize agenda and proposed time allocations. >> Very true. Second. Okay. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Any opposed? >> Okay, motion carries. All right, we'll now go into our commendations. Our first commendation um will be presented by Windham Kensley, our executive director of communications. It's on the Ray Rancho Education Foundation grant for building thinking classrooms initiative. >> Good evening. I am so excited to be here. Thank you for having us. Uh President Gal is Dr. Cleveland member board. Um I am thrilled to be here to commend the actions of um
013the Rioancho Education Foundation and their very generous grant um for a program that has been spearheaded by a wonderful collective of educators from um Eagle Ridge Middle School. Um this is again as has been said is called building thinking in classrooms and I myself am a member of the the rear natural education foundation but I'm not going to pretend like I know the ins and outs of this initiative. So, I'd like to invite the um the spearhead group, I guess is what we could call um to come up here and then one of the members uh Jessica Mercer is going to kind of explain what this program is and how the funds will be allocated to support our students. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. Um, some of my colleagues
014and I have been working on bringing this new approach to math instruction to our classrooms. It is a researchbased program and it was developed by Peter Lilyad Doll and it's called building thinking classrooms. The goal is to turn students from passive learners into active learners. And they do that through three main approaches. One is to develop randomized student groups every day. And so the kids never know who they're going to work with coming in the door. Um step two is to have whiteboards set up around the room because the thinking is that if students are standing then their brains are more active than as if they're sitting. And thirdly, we would provide those students with collaborative problem solving tasks to do together at those whiteboards to address the math concepts and standards. I actually began
015this last spring after attending a conference in Santa Fe and I can tell you the change was immediate. My students were very eager to work at the whiteboards. They were actively more engaged in the math. um they were having deeper math discussions at these boards where some of the things that we would have to draw out of them later, they were just coming up with and it was like an epiphany. Um even my more quiet ones that wouldn't contribute during class, they were contributing in the smaller groups because they were more comfortable with their peers than speaking out in front of the whole group. Um, so to expand this work across all Rio Rancho public school, middle schools, uh, we needed some basic essential materials such like markers and whiteboards around the room and just
016providing that support for teachers as they go through. And so thanks to the Rio Rancho Educational Foundation, we were awarded $4,000. Um, and so we are able to purchase those supplies and support the teachers as across all four middle schools. um with this and so extreme thanks to the Rio Rancho Educational Foundation for not only believing in our students but believing in us as educators and so we hope with this we can build more capable critical thinking math learners and future problem solvers with that. >> Thank you. >> We do have a couple members of the education foundation to come and present the check. Um, uh, I believe Miss Jessica Miranda, who is the president of the foundation, will be doing that. So, we'd like to invite them up as well. >> Yeah. Well, as
017they come up, maybe we should go to a motion and accept and then and then they can come up and and >> this is I think Do we not have to accept anything? >> On the 11th. >> Oh, it's on the 11th. >> Oh, okay. Never mind. Come on up. >> Come on up. This is wonderful. >> Good evening, Madam President and respectful members of the board. My name is Jessica Miranda and I am here on behalf of your natural education foundation to support fielding thinking classroom. This phenomenal program was presented to us as a holistic educational approach um that can be tailored to education on all levels. This is a program designed to engage every student, encourage participation and create excitement around the learning new environments. Uh thank you for continuing to support education
018um and continuing this excellent work. >> Thank you so much. We should applaud this. You want to take some notes. Are we awkward in the back? >> You want to say a couple words? >> Yeah. >> As you guys are kind of looking at all the trek and stuff, I I just wanted to say how great it is to have so much interaction within the community. I think you taught my daughter, I think, in like sixth grade and so Yeah, which is awesome. And so it's wonderful that we have teachers and people in the community who can just do so much for us. I know Dr. Cleveland wanted to say something. >> Well, I I agree and you know this uh this is moving uh up and we we have really had a push uh
019the last few years for the math labs at the elementary and increasing student engagement. And so this is a step into the secondary arena to do a lot of those same kinds of things. And so it's exciting because we know when students are more involved with math um they they become they they they be they learn they really like it and they learn they can really do it. And so it will be a wonderful opportunity. We thank the foundation for this very generous uh donation and uh really look forward to hearing you know how it how it goes. And so uh uh again thank you for making the the effort to ask and and to showing some initiative for it. and the to the foundation. Thank you for funding it. >> Yeah, thank you guys.
020Thank you so much. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Okay, our next item is the National Board for Certification of Nurses and the 2025 leaison of the year, Lynn Wheeler. So, Michelle Havl, our executive director of student services, will present. >> Good evening, President Galbreth, Dr. Cleveland, and members of the board. Um, I'm excited to be up here this evening with our director of school nursing, Lynn Wheeler. Um, if you have not met her, she is quite phenomenal. Um, I don't know that we can brag enough on our school nursing staff for not only their qualifications, but for the work that they do, and that really comes from her leadership um, through our school nursing program. So, she was recently awarded the school liaison um, of the year award for our national certified school nursing. Um
021what's amazing with this is not only has she advocated um for those certifications but recently found out that four of our district nurses have actually also received their certification as well. So not only is she recognized for the work towards that but the proof is really in the work that those folks are starting the year with that national certification as well. The liaison of the year award is presented to the national certifi certified school nursing liaison who has promoted school nursing certification on the state level and exemplifies the role of a national certified school nursing liaison serving as a certification resource promoting certification participating in activities and serving as a liazison between state and the national board for certified school nurses. Board of Directors awardees must be not only nationally certified themselves, but they must
022also hold that certification in good standing. Lynn has promoted national school nursing certification through her work in New Mexico. She's promoted New Mexico House Bill 195, which ensured statewide stipens for the national program, which is huge. It is definitely helps us with staff retention in the nursing area. Um, and she has also worked to code higher base salary for those holding these certifications, which is again crucial for those who can compete with hospital staffing for talented nurses. And we do have many of those here within our district. Lynn has truly supported national certification this year again with those four additional nurses and several still in process. Um, and that has been, like I said, a great way to start off the first weeks of school. This is quite the celebration for not only our nursing
023program, but also our district. I think that national certification um we're we're somewhat fortunate and spoiled in a way that we have a huge ratio of folks that do have that but for the size of our nursing program that is substantial. Um thank you Lynn for the amazing work you do each and every day. >> Yeah. Thank you. [Applause] >> Do you want to say some words be before we talk to you? >> Thank you president members of the board and Dr. Cleveland. I just would like to say it's always an honor anytime I can represent school nurses and elevate school nurses. Just the recognition that they have and the amazing work that they do every day. Um it's just an honor to work for these nurses not across just our district but across the
024state. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. We have I truly, you know, I've I've had opportunities, you know, come in contact with our nurses and I know some of our nurses and we have such great nurses in the district. I'm so grateful that you're you're leading them. If I remember, you came in right as with all the pandemic, right? Right. As we were I just I was like thinking back I was like, "Oh, that was a crazy time." And so you have been so great for our district and we're just so grateful to have you. Um Dr. Cleveland, did you want to add anything? As I said, we're very lucky to have you in our district and thank you. And u we are very lucky to have you in our district and um you've been
025recognized for many things. It's wonderful for people across the state and even beyond the state to recognize the quality work and and to uh to affirm that. And so they just simply have affirmed what we've already known. But it it's still very nice to have that recognition. So we're very pleased for you. Uh and again, thank you for all your hard work. It is um it is challenging times and through the pandemic was particularly challenging but it continues to be. Students have a lot of needs and so uh again we thank you for for for that hard work. I'm going to just have a little aside to this just so community knows. um our our school nurses are funded through Medicaid and so we are continuing to watch very carefully what happens at the national
026level with regards to that because all of our nurses in Rio Rancho public schools are funded through that program and so uh we are we're watching it very carefully. Um but I don't know how we would do without our school nurses. they they are just uh an absolutely essential part and and their the the role of school nurses today is like everything else. It has just changed dramatically over time and some of the needs that our school nurses are having to deal with with some of our children, very profound illnesses and very complex care. So, um, we we we appreciate you and we appreciate the good work you do and the leadership role you you play in directing the work of our school nurses and rearrangement. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. And thanks
027for the other nurses who are, I know, out there so that are out in the audience with us. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> All right. Our next commendation will be for the New Mexico High School Coaches Association. Um, this is our spirit coach of the year, Madison Weaver, and Todd Rush, our executive director of athletics, will present. And we have after this, it's Ricky Castillo and Eric Jack as well, who will all be being recognized. >> Good evening, President Gworth, members of the board, Superintendent Cleveland. This evening, I would like to recognize Madison Weaver, who was selected as the 2025 New Mexico High School Coaches Association Spirit Coach of the Year under her first year as head coach. >> Amazing. The Cleveland's Spirit program saw a remarkable turnaround, rising from last place,
028a last place finish in 2024 at the state competition to securing second place at the state competition last spring. Her dedication and vision was made a very has made a very positive impact on the program. We congratulate Coach Weaver on this well-deserved recognition and commend her for her outstanding contributions to Cleveland High School and the Rio Rancho public schools. [Applause] I don't have too much to say other than thank you guys and um you know I appreciate you for recognizing coaches and recognizing spirit. So thank you. >> Thank you. I think we'll just talk to all of them after you're done time. >> Now, I'd like to recognize Ricky Castillo, who was selected as the 2025 New Mexico High School Coaches Association Assistant Softball Coach of the Year. Ricky is the heart of the Cleveland
029softball program. She works tirelessly behind the scenes to support student athletes both academically and emotionally. From weekly mental health and great check uh great check-ins to washing uniforms and running the program's social media, she does it all, often on her own time and without extra pay. A proud Cleveland High School alum, Ricky has turned down multiple head coaching offers to continue giving back to the school and community that shaped her. She's also a dedicated 10-year member of the New Mexico High School Coaches Association, volunteering her time and talents to support coaching clinics and events. Her commitment, reliability, and selflessness make her truly invaluable. [Applause] And finally, I would like to recognize Mr. Eric Jack, who was awarded the Ralph Ber Coaching for Character Award by the New Mexico High School Coaches Association. Coach Jack is
030a model of integrity, selflessness, and dedication to student athletes. When called upon to step in as head coach for the Lady Rams basketball program during a colleague's family emergency, Eric seamlessly took on full responsibilities, managing everything from tryyouts to team logistics and mentoring. His tireless efforts, leadership, and commitment to do what is right for young athletes make him a respected and valuable member of the Rio Rancho community. [Applause] >> Thank you. Thank you, board. Um, appreciate you guys having me uh this evening. Uh, I really appreciate the support and everything that the district has provided uh for me, especially in that time of uh in that certain situation that we're in there um as a coach uh stepping in like that. That was some difficult times. Uh but I appreciate all of the support that
031I was given. Um and it is a pleasure and honor to be uh working for this district. I appreciate >> Thank you. [Applause] Thank you guys. I also want to thank Todd Rush, um, our athletic director, Matt Martinez, um, principal Scott Aen trainer, my head coach, um, Angel Castillo, and the New Mexico High School Coaches Association for recognizing this award. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um, I'm going to give I'm going to give you guys a moment to talk. I know you're very involved in our sports. So, um, Gary, do you do you want to give any words? >> You know, a lot of things come to my mind, but, uh, I was a principal when we won our first cheerleading state championship. So, I have to say that because it's uh near and
032dear to my heart even though my daughter was a cheerleader for only one week and the athletic director kicked her out. But, um, but, uh, Mrs. Garcia that the program is is first a class and a lot of because of you and thank you for all you do. And um Mr. Jack, I I knew Ralph Boyer and um I I I kind of asked him one time I said, "Why are you such a great human being and one of the greatest coaches we've had in in New Mexico?" And he answered me. He said, "Gary, pretty simple. I teach Sunday school every Sunday to little kids. >> Yeah. >> That that's kind of when I look at somebody that wins the Ralph Boy award, the character of of life for kids and making sure everything's right
033and first class. Thank you. Thank you all. You guys are first class. Thank you. >> Thanks, D. >> I just want to say again to echo Gary, congratulations. appreciate the hard work and and more importantly just the impact that you're making on our students lives. To me, that's the most important thing. So, again, thank you so much and I appreciate the hard work. >> Dr. Cleveland, do you want anything? >> Well, I uh first to coach Jack, I I don't read PowerPoints very well, but I definitely know who you are and so my apologies. um and I didn't know Ralph Buer and so um it is a wonderful recognition thing I guess I would share about all three of these individuals is that they stepped they have stepped into some very difficult situations and they
034handled it with class and they did not give up and they just stayed the course and they made good things happen for students but all three have dealt with some amazing challenges and so want to thank you for staying with it. want to thank you for having such a positive attitude and we as as uh um the previous board members have said we appreciate the impact that you're making on student lives every day. But how wonderful to have three in one year uh at the coaches level and uh again congratulations to each and every one of you. Thank you guys so much. Um you know I grew up kind of in the arts programs. That's what I did and my kids are all sport kids. They are just heavily sport kids and I have loved
035to see both and I have loved to see how important their coaches are to them in their lives and what a difference it makes to them and so thank you so much for all that you do. Um for my job I train teachers and one of those it just m made me think of it with what they were saying is um we have these different paragraphs of different ways to help and and live is one of them and when we talk about live it means that we live a life right that our students that they can see and they know that that we're living a good life and something that they um want to aspire to as well and so I see that with with each of you with these awards that you've received that
036you are living that life and and you have helped our students to achieve a achieve greatness by by that. So, thank you so much for all your support and helping our students. We really do appreciate you. Thanks for coming in tonight as well. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Okay, our next is our New Mexico High School Coaches Association Athletic Director of the Year. So, do not leave Todd Rush. Um Dr. BC Cleveland will be presenting this. Well, I I just wanted to add to what I said previously. All programs depend on good leadership and um Todd picked up uh this program and it's just um just built on the successes uh over that have been u uh developed over the years. I I don't think you those in in athletics know but maybe not the
037general community knows what what that job looks like but it's you could go and generally do somewhere every single night. uh most of us go home uh but he does not go home most nights and he doesn't go home on Saturdays and we give him a day of rest on Sunday usually but the hours that go into this physician and we all work late we all have extra hours but it's different when you are scheduled and you have to go somewhere and be somewhere but his presence is at almost every event that he can and when he can't clone himself he has to to choose among those events but uh he He's very visible. Uh a strong advocate for athletics, but also an equally strong advocate for academics and a real strong advocate for good
038behavior and for character and for making the lives of our students better. And so he has made a huge difference uh with the lives of students. and uh for a job that just is never ending. Really appreciate the hard work and uh the dedication that he puts into this position. And uh we we want to congratulate you, but also thank you uh for all of that hard work. And uh you know, we just you know, in so many of our programs, we just have had resounding success over the years. And sometimes I think we almost become complacent about it. And you know, I asked him this morning, we have all of our new teachers here in a wonderful induction program and each of our two high schools have 52 state championships in the 30-year history
039of school district. That's almost that's just amazing from my way of thinking. And so does not happen without hard work. And so congratulations, Todd. We're so glad you are part of our district. And um we uh we acknowledge all of the uh many efforts you make uh in uh athletics to make this program such a strong program for our students. >> Yeah. Thank you. We'll give you the mic. >> Yeah. Just couple of things. Um, you know, this this is a it's a meaningful award because it comes from the professionals that I strive to serve and that that makes it meaningful. And, you know, I think, you know, talking about the history with Gary Vee and Bruce Carver and Larry Chavis, you know, they they built the well and now I'm drinking the water. You
040know, they they laid the foundation. And this this this program is a uh the success of this program is a collective achievement from the board of education, the superintendent, the superintendent's cabinet, every single department that I work with have been uh just paramount to the success of our program. They are so easy to work with and so accommodating to our program and our athletes. I thank our high schools and our high school administration and athletic directors and uh and the athletic department. So, it's just it's a collective achievement. It's it's um it's it speaks to all of us working together for our um for our student athletes. So, for that, I am I am very thankful. >> I I'm going to I'm going to give you guys a chance in just a second, but I
041I just think Todd is fantastic. And you know, like I said, my kids are in sports and so every so often I get to sit down on the bleachers with Todd and just talk about things and all the different things that he's been at and is going and he knows everything that's going on. He knows everything that's going on. He knows um with coaches those things that are hard for them and all of those things. And that's what makes a good um that's what makes you so good with what you know as our athletic director is that you and every coach that I've talked to as well. They're so grateful for your support and the way that you get to know them and take time with each of them. And so um you make everything
042move the way it needs to move. And so thank you so much for for doing that. And he's an avid cyclist. I don't know if everyone knows that. And he has to move those his rides into really odd times of the day sometimes. so that he can he can get his, you know, his workouts in and such and he still makes sure that happens and he I've never ever heard you complain once, you know, for being at different events. You're always just so excited to be there. So, thank you so much. Um, Gary Trip, >> I'm going to take a a different angle and go back to something Todd said earlier. Um, Gary Bean, Bruce Carver, Larry Chavez, and Todd Rush. I don't know if Rio Rancho could get any better than that. We are
043we're a very blessed community. But what puts uh Gary Beam and and Todd Rush over the top with all their experience. They're both exm military men if if I got it right. I think Gary Beam was um United States Army and I think if I'm right from our friendship many years ago, US Navy. All right. Uh so thank you for your service to your country, but that's not why you're you guys are better than um than uh Bruce Carver or Larry Travis. It's because of the fact of not just that military, but Gary Beam and Todd Rush are gold pack gold guys, Green Bay Packers. So keep up the great work. Thank you. >> Okay. >> And we forgive him for that. >> Move right along. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. I I do want to ask
044both you and Jack. I'm a 2X. I need one of those shirts. Okay. I told Gary, I said, "Man, those are some nice looking shirts you have on." So, hey, man, if you happen to find Jackups, you got me, man. You got me. 2X. All right. 2X. >> I'll come back and pick it up anytime. Congratulations. Job well done. Thank you so much. Thanks everyone for being here tonight. We appreciate it. Um so we'll now we don't do do not have any public comment for tonight. Nothing signed up right JC. So we have no one signed up. We also do not have any that came through our um online form. So we will not have any of that. But if anyone does who's listening would desire to give public comment. You're welcome to come in.
045You have to sign up before the meeting starts at 5:30. Um or you can give public comment online and I will um give those during the meeting. Um we will now go to approve the cons consent agenda. >> Member Jeff Morgan. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Gary trips second. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. >> All right. We now move into our business portion of the meeting for tonight and we'll start with our first. Mike Baker, you are just going to be up here for the next three. So, we're going to first start with considering the increasing fees for facilities use. >> Well, I am very happy you all are in a good mood so far
046this evening with all those wonderful awards that our district continues to receive. Um, you know, almost every board meeting seems that somebody's getting an award uh for athletics, specifically athletics or fine arts. Um, and in order to have that that gradea program, you know, it takes money, takes money to have um good coaches. It takes funding to have good facilities. And we do need both. And I don't I don't have to tell you more than you already know. But when we look at uh business items one, two, and three, I'll kind of lump them together. Why are we doing this? The simple answer is that our facilities get used a lot, not just from the schools, but also the community. And that's a good thing. But because of that, there's a lot of wear and
047tear. And in order to keep our facilities in top condition, we have to maintain those. And there's two approaches. One approach is to maintain them as they wear and as they need to be replaced. The second approach, which is done by many districts throughout the state, is they put off that maintenance because they can't afford it and they push it and they push it. And what happens is you soon have fields or facilities that become unusable. And fortunately we are not um in that position. But we have great facilities. We want to maintain those facilities um in great condition. Um, and in order to offset the cost of that, and I can tell you this, the labor cost for grounds, for example, not just here in Rio Rancho, but but it's really a national trend,
048has tripled since um the pandemic. And so unfortunately the pandemic pandemic gave us some really um some really bad things um besides just inflation but but certain labor costs like grounds landscaping crews um that cost has tripled and so we really have a couple of options. One is to defer maintenance. If you defer maintenance you will essentially ruin a facility. The other is is to maintain and to budget for it. Um which you will see an increase um cost. And so what we're looking at doing is offsetting some of that through the fees that we charge in particular facility use um which are outside groups of uh individual community members typically that essentially rent out our facilities. For facility use, we are looking for something fairly simple, a 10% increase across the board. Our fees
049are very competitive, probably better than the surrounding area. Um, I know um, Vice President Morgan was a little apprehensive of the last increase, meaning that what could happen is with an increase in fees, typically you have a reduction in use. I can tell you um the the calls for use have not decreased. They've only increased. One change that we have done in order to preserve our fields in particular our outside athletic fields is we've taken them offline because they can't handle the stress that they are going on right now. It's not just the use from our our school students, but it's also the use from the community. And after a while you have to take those uh fields offline and you you they they need time to to rejuvenate. Um we don't see by raising
050facility use we do not believe our use will decrease other than what we've started recently is taking fields offline. So the cost to refurbish won't be nearly uh as expensive as if we don't do that. Um I think we have some other strategies in place that we'll talk about in a couple of weeks and that is really beginning a process of of replacing grass with turf. Now you the conventional wisdom will say well you're you're going you're not going to be using water. You don't have to cut the grass. You don't have to maintain the grass. You don't have to weed the grass. And so you would think, wow, we're really going to see uh maintenance that will be reduced in cost. That simply is not the case. Uh turf is a little bit more
051expensive, but because we live in the the dry southwest here, um it's probably a little bit more appropriate. And I think I see our district moving in that direction because the of the use of the facility. Again, not just our students, but the community use. um as well. Um secondly, uh gate receipts and this is something that we've talked about for a number of years. Uh I've talked to uh Mr. Rush about this um and he's in full agreement that we do need an incremental um increase in gate receipts. again, those that funding uh winds its way back to refurbish um our athletic fields um um and facilities. And so uh you should have received um what we're asking for essentially is a dollar an additional dollar um per ticket for the most part. Um
052and then thirdly, kind of getting away u from athletic fields or even fine arts facilities um is our parking lots and unfortunately Blacktop is really really expensive and uh these fees go to the incremental cost of maintaining those parking lots. Typically we don't use the funds for black top itself but we use the funds for for example restriping. We also use the funds in um uh to enhance security because security basically patrols um that area um lighting for example. So, those are the fees um that we're asking to increase that increase. We're asking for from to go from $50 a year to $60 a year and uh both high school um principles have requested um this change. Essentially, those funds uh get funneled right back to each of the comprehensives um and they use those
053funds. Uh like I said earlier, So uh in a nutshell uh number one, two and three that is the request. I stand for questions. >> Okay. I actually have some issues but I'm going to let I'm gonna let Gary Trip start. And um actually Dr. Cohen, did you want to say anything before we go? Okay. Okay. Go ahead. >> I'll make some comments later. >> Okay. Mike, you you hit the nail on the head. We were in such a good mood. No. Um, one thought or two or three thoughts I have is one when I when I when the facility use agreement 10 10% isn't a whole lot if it's $4 and it goes up 40 cents. But when you rent something for $1,000 and it goes up another 10% it's a little bit more
054in cost. So I guess my thought was things do go up. That's reality. I'm just wondering if like the larger items like the performing arts centers or the the big ticketed things um I'm just wondering if could they go up 8% and we're still you know um kind of trying to do our best to service to serve the community or be stewards. That's just one thought. This the second thought I >> is that a question? >> Yeah. It's a could be a question. Thanks if you understood it. >> Yeah, that's it. And so, uh, you know, we looked at, uh, you know, we talked about this. Where do we want to go with our fees? And what we don't want to do is we won't we don't want to have fees that are so, uh,
055expensive that people just don't hire them. Um, I don't think that's the case. whether whether we go with 8% or or 10% I think we can go much higher than 10% but I think 10% um is something that is palatable with our users um and don't forget a lot of our private users they charge a lot more than 10% each year for for their um folks to participate um in that particular sport. Um so it's certainly whether 8 8% or 10% is certainly the the school board's prerogative. Um I I do recommen on the gate receipts. I always um just felt like to get the community involved as much as possible to leave the sub varsity and the middle school events as low cost as possible. Um those programs are almost always raising money for
056kids, those parents. So, that was just the other thought about about the gate receipts and looking at maybe the middle school fee being the subarcity and middle school fee, but I don't know what the goal is as far as trying to increase revenue there. I know there's cost factors, so maybe we could hear a little bit about that. >> Yeah. And and and that's a good point. I think you're right. I think you know uh the second item here case gate receipts kind of requires a little bit more thinking because what we don't want to do is we don't want to discourage people going to to to the games or or to performances. Um and so uh Mr. Rush and I have have talked we've had many conversations about this and so I I will
057defer to him um to talk about if if he believes that we'll see less people at our function >> since Todd's going to come up really quick because I had come up come up but I I have issues with gate receipts too. I'm just going to bring it up since you're since we're talking about it here too. So for some like football it doesn't bother me because I mean there's a lot that's happening with football. We have a ton of security in there. There's just a lot of things that's going on with football. But when I think about some of these varsity events and I don't know, basketball maybe. Um, when I think about track events, um, I sat at that gate and pulled in fees for for track events and you have parents who
058are coming for an event and we have individuals who are coming from, you know, different um, PBLO and things like that and they are very upset that we are charging so much especially when they are coming for one thing that's going to take 2 minutes and so when I see two at $2 and then when we think on top of it we've been trying to get away in cash, which I I think actually I personally think we might have to stick with. But that's an extra fee. I mean, so when we charge them $6, it's essentially charging them seven. So when we're going to charge them now eight, that's going to charge them, I don't know, nine, right? And I just it makes me a little nervous especially with some of the things that are
059happening in the district when we're talking about um you know we're going for bond and a lot of a lot of these different things that when I think about some of these fees that $2 fee up on those other athletic events it makes me very very nervous. So anyway Todd I just wanted to add that since you're up here talking to to that anyway. >> Yes ma'am. You know that's clearly understood and the the goal by increasing gate receipts is that whatever the the amount is that is bumped that will not come to athletics that will go to grounds. So it is an investment into our fields as far as field maintenance is concerned as far as taking care of our fields. >> I I stand in front of you tonight. we have to take
060Rio Rancho's soccer field offline. So now Rio Rancho's soccer will play in the football stadium which then affects the football programs and other programs, right? And so and that that is a reflection of just a tired field and a and a field that has not received, you know, the level of of of support and maintenance and offline as as it's needed. There's another field tomorrow that we're going to have to take offline at Rio Rancho High School at the track. The football fu field at the track is going to be unplayable which will affect Eagle Ridge Middle School because they play their home games there. So now they will have to go to Lincoln Middle School. So it's just there's this domino effect when a when a when a field is offline. So, we are
061attempting to address a need and that is a to to have fields ready for our athletes and our community to use and to do so costs money. >> Yeah. >> And and so this is an effort to just to just move additional funds to the grounds department or to grounds to support the upkeep of these fields. Nothing else. that athletics will not see this increase. >> Kevin, did you have a question? >> Could you address a question? I'd like to make some comments after everybody else, but uh can you tell me when's the last time we raised gate receipts and these other fees? Do you know how long may have been? >> Is last we just do this last year. >> Uh no, we did have >> Okay. Okay. >> So, I honestly I don't
062I don't recall, but it's it's been some time. >> Okay. in some time. I I I would like to comment on um President Galbert's um analysis. I I understand and not that I disagree. >> Yeah. >> But for example, we talked specifically about um football, varsity, and um probably varsity basketball and some of the other sports. What we are spending today on police protection, traffic control, and security inside the facility is astronomical what we've only spent a few years ago. And so you say, well, why are we doing that? And and it's not it's like everything else we do. It's because of the parents behavior. Let me be more specific. It's because of the parents bad behavior. And what what's incredible is when we're talking about having hosting an athletic event, how much time we
063actually have to spend on security, actually planning the security to ensure that it is going to be a safe event for everybody and um the costs have gone up significantly. how many uh police officers we pay for, how many traffic control, um fire and rescue. Um we have a good, you know, showing from from uh the city in order to support those games. Uh but we pay for it. We pay for it and it's it it's quite expensive. Anyway, >> okay, >> there there's just one bit of information that might be useful to the board and I wish I'd thought through this before. Um, it's why I asked how long it's been since we have, you know, changed those fees, but just so I have this just pulled up and and it's u in in
0642021, we had an inflation rate of 7%. In 2022, 6 and a half% um 23 3.4 4 and 24 2.9. So just as the inflation you were not even keeping up with the inflation costs for salaries and for other things. It does beg a bigger a bigger question and that's not one we can answer tonight. But some of these things we we're probably going to have to think differently about how we fund them because you're not going to be able to accomplish some of those things with gate receipts alone. But Mike's trying very hard to support several of the projects as they come up and and we just don't always have the resources to do that. So, but I'm not sure gate receipts is the best way to to to do that. But that seems
065to be in some cases the only avenue that we've had. And so, uh maybe looking at a bigger picture. How do we fund the track that I know you've been very concerned with and just address that again right now. uh some other other fields that are coming offline because we can't uh we can't keep those uh we can't keep those up and going but just if you look at the inflation rate alone uh over over the last four years we haven't been able to even stay close to that. So um I I thought that might be you know good information you take that into consideration. The other side of that though is that the all of our community and families have been experiencing that same inflation rate >> and so I know that it's hard
066and tight tight for families as well. So this is hard. We don't like coming and asking for this. I can tell you we really really don't. >> I know Dr. Cleveland >> but but it we really don't. But it is uh the question of how do we keep our our our facilities up and how you know if we rent them out to the community how do we recoup that and if we don't recoup it and and for example facility use then where does the money come from? It comes right out of our classroom that's where we take it. Mhm. >> So, it it's it's it's hard. It's a hard situation. A lot of challenges uh as we try to um to u do the upkeep for our our facilities and for our athletic uh fields
067and and and facilities as well. So, just a comment. >> Thanks. >> Gary has >> just a question for Todd. Do we have sports that we don't charge like tennis or are there do we have Olympic sports that don't don't have a charge to get into the event? >> It's a very good question. We don't charge for tennis >> we we we do charge for softball. Okay. >> At at the gates at the entrance from the parking lot to the facility. Um I don't I mean I I believe wherever we go for cross country there's a charge >> for metro or academy even. No I don't >> academy doesn't charge. >> So it's a bit of a mixed bag. Um, I think where the audience is controlled, you know, it's probably easier to charge gate.
068Um, I remember having been at Laqua, we couldn't charge for baseball because they were coming from every direction. Mhm. >> Um, so I think it it may depend a bit on the venue, but uh, but tennis I would say is one of the ex maybe golf doesn't charge >> either, but then if you want to follow the the the the players, you have to rent a cart. >> So >> yeah, that's I what I can tell you though just just our campuses are like Vegas. They they never rest. there's something going on in that gym right now as I speak at Cleveland and and and Rio Rancho high schools. Okay. So, that's that's also a big piece of this entire issue. >> Yeah. Jeff, do you have any questions? >> I don't have any questions.
069I actually like the idea after Mike explained to me why we want to raise this. Uh, I kind of like the idea, but I don't know if it's something you communicate to the community or is that just something you just kind of just roll with cuz man, it makes sense on why we're raising it based off what you said. I'm thinking, okay, how do we send this message? Cuz I guarantee you once people understand why, they get on board. It's they will cuz it's all for the kids. if they know I got to pay an extra $2 to get this feel right so there's no broken ankles or anything like that they'll be on board some I like the idea but how do we communicate that to the community and I don't know if we
070do that's kind of >> the inflation rate >> sorry >> show them the street >> well then if we show them that then yeah let's >> yeah I I think that's an excellent point yes I think we do need to communicate we need to communicate clearly concisely >> um to the public And I'm sure the observer is going to have something in the paper. >> He's typing away. >> So yes, so uh if approved, uh we will ensure that we get this information out in the >> um so I have a question. Why $2 for for the other athletic? Like what what was the decision making with that $2 versus everyone else had $1 raise but >> um thank you. So the the question was posed to our high school athletic leadership asking both athletic
071directors and their offices if we were to increase gate >> where would you see those increases coming from? So I I we sought stakeholder input as far as you know they're living it they're seeing it every single day and so that this was this was a reflection of the proposal. >> Okay. Okay. That's good to know. Um, other comments, questions, things you need to know before we can vote on this. And Dr. >> I think you made the the comment uh um earlier about the the difference between varsity and and and subvarsity and participation and all of that. Uh, I suspect it was also a financial consideration because that's where we make the majority of our funding as more people attend varsity events than they do the others and so are and more likely to
072uh they're more likely to raise more revenue >> at varsity uh events. So, um that that might have also been part of it I would suspect. >> Yeah. I guess I think the other thing too is as we look at these things and and I'd like to know as we move ahead that these things are actually going to what we say they are going to you know I mean our parking lots I know so that that money when we talk about the um I don't have any issues with the facility use but the parking fees like we do not put that into maintaining those parking lots and it's going to other places which I think is okay but I think we do need to be clear where those things do go to you know I
073don't think Rancho has been resurfaced since I was at rear end. >> That's what that means. It's probably time there. >> It is past time. >> Yeah, >> that's a good point. So >> those fees go to really incremental issues concerning the part for example striping >> there. The fees that we collect won't even come. >> It's so expensive. >> And so those are those are like bond issue items. um th those are high dollar items and so this is this parking fee is really about maintenance rather than replacement. Um but honestly you know we are develop developing a plan um on turf and on practice fields and on you know on the on the on the um playing fields themselves. We also need to develop a a strategy on parking lots because our parking
074lots even here at district office they're they're in bit pretty bad pretty bad shape. Um so anyway we need we need to come up with that strategy as well >> that we want to do. Can my lawyer friend can you help us out? >> Can we do we have to vote for these individually or >> Yeah. >> Okay. which is good. >> Mike, I was trying to get you in and out, man. Trying to get you done all >> if you also need more time. If you also need more time, uh, we can bring it back at the next board meeting. But the intent, and I think a really important intent was to try to get it done before the start of the school year. >> Yeah. Which is next week. So, >> yeah. So,
075Madame President, I'll make a motion that we increase the fees for facility use as recommended. >> Board member Jeff Morgan, I second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. And JC, we'll take a roll call vote for us. >> Vice President Morgan, >> yes. >> Board member Trip, >> yes. >> President, >> yes. [Music] >> Yeah. Board member Jeff Morgan. I'll make a motion to approve considering increasing fees for gate receipts. >> Trip second. >> Come on, Amanda. Come on. Come on. >> I That's why I'm having Jason take my call. It's more just for myself. >> Yes. Um, no. I'm gonna say no. But it still carries. >> I will say on this one before we go to our next one, I and I'm saying no just because I sat there and
076I'm really concerned about some parents being able to afford this, but I do trust and I'm glad you brought them up and I know that that it comes from I trust both of our athletic directors and so if they're saying that we need this then I have trust that and I trust in you too. So, >> okay, I've said my my piece on that. Go ahead. >> Board member Jeff Morgan. I make a motion to approve uh consideration increasing fees for parking fees. >> Very true. Second >> and we'll just all in favor >> I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Oh boy, >> that's great. >> Thank you very much. You're still in a good mood. >> All right. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Todd. >> Todd, what I would like to ask is
077uh have you put the number? No, no, no, no. I know you're going to hook me up with the shirt. I I want to ask uh have you put the numbers to like how many people come to a football game? What that increase? Let's say we get 2,000 people at the game. That's five games increase. Here's that dollar amount. How long will it take for us to really do? You don't have to. If you haven't done the numbers, I get it. But I love to see the numbers. So, uh, Mike, you got them? >> Yes, sir, I do. >> I I can get them from you later, Mike. Uh, okay. We don't have to do it now. >> We didn't already voted on. You got what you want now. So, I I could I could
078look at them later. >> So, our estimate for gate receipts with the with the um our estimate increase >> that will bring in an additional about $23,000 >> per season. This just for football? Oh, this is for everything. >> Everything. Okay. >> So, you would think, you know, we're increasing this and we're it's what we bring in really is a pitence what we actually spend. >> I was going to ask cuz so that means it would take us almost 10 years to really even put a down payment if that's all we're >> not even close. >> Well, no, I I I get it, man. Okay, I get it. I'm trying to find a way to when we communicate this, somebody on the other side of the computer doing the math saying, "Okay, man. We only
079gonna make about $23,000 a year. How much of a dent is this really going to make? That's kind of what I'm thinking about. That's all. Okay. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. >> Dr. Cleveland, you had some more. >> Just uh you know, I think one of the ways we do communicate is that everybody who goes to the grocery store has seen what has happened the last several years for food. But I just added up those last four years and the amount a total uh amount of inflation based on federal numbers is 19.8% inflation. >> And so you can only eat so much of that and and it just it's just all you could do. So you know inflation is a thing that creeps up on you. It just you know but it's I I'm kind
080of surprised. I didn't know it was 20% over the last four years. So that obviously has had u an impact as well just to maintain not to do more but to maintain what we're doing now and I think that's that's the challenge. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead Todd. >> I just think it's important to note that the 23,000 goes towards >> got pay for our and that might just be the way we communicate that. >> Yeah. No, I hate it. >> Thank you. >> I just absolutely hate it. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I warned Dr. Cleveland that this was a hard one for me when we talked earlier this week. So, it was it's okay. All right. We will now look at item four, which is our second reading of policy
0811033, wireless communication devices. I'm sorry, Michelle. Michelle Havl, our executive director of student services, is presenting. You're on my second page there. So, >> hi, Dean. You know, it's all right. It's my second time here. Um, President Galbreth, members of the board, and Dr. Cleveland, this is our presentation for the second reading of the new policy 1033. Um, and this was um created in response to the Senate Bill 11 for the anti-distraction that is um statewide and we're expected to have a policy in place by August 1st, ideally so we can communicate to parents. Um, I am happy to read it again if you'd like me to, otherwise if there are additional questions or needs. Sorry. I just have a question. I wasn't here for the initial meeting and so I do just have one
082question as far as um because I know we're supposed to have them powered down and stored away. Um and is that is that from legislation that that comes from or is that us that that comes from? >> Any instructional times they do want it off and away. Okay. Um so of course non-instructional times it's you know discretionary to the campus of course more secondary that we see that at but anytime that it would distract from instruction so really um >> passing periods lunches things like that of course you're going to have discretion on that but it is those instructional hours >> is that built do we feel like that's built into there I guess I it does say discretion I guess I just got a little concerned with like some of the for more for
083our high school students right but for the passing periods and for lunches if we're building ourselves into something that we're not expecting? >> No, I think we're very intentional with the instructional time being defined as those times in the classroom when you're receiving instruction. Um that's what our matrix supports. That's what um our secondary administrators also said, you know, they want that discretion to allow that. Um of course, we have things in place if they're used inappropriately. Um but again, transitions to and from class, to and from school, um bus walking, things like that. We don't have that that control. It's just during that instructional time. >> Okay, that is good. Thank you. Thank you. Does anyone else have any questions? I know you discussed it last week. Any other questions? It would be interesting
084to do a little uh data analysis after the first nine weeks of school at the high school, especially about tardies or about, you know, especially I think about tardies because I think of these students turning on and wanting to finish a conversation and not necessarily caring about and then all of a sudden we're losing in instructional time. So, we may have to bite the bullet, you know, be a little tougher or we may have to figure out another strategy. I mean, that's just food for thought when when I was because I I knew that for a lot of parents that's going to be a concern. You know, your passing periods, your lunch, we want to we want to be able to call us or stuff like that. But then on the other side, the teachers
085need the all of to maximize that instructional time. We don't need class disrupted from these kids being late all the time. So it' be interesting to do some data analysis around this bill. Just food for thought. >> I will say what's supportive for us too is that it's not drastically different from what we are already doing. Most of our practices are already >> Oh, that's good. >> Silenced in a way. The only difference now is that off and away. the temptation. I think we're all guilty of that. Your phone's there. You glance down to my future now. Um but it isn't um I don't want to say life-changing for many. I think we're very much um in the right direction with this at this time. >> Thank you. That's good to know. Thank you. >>
086Thank you, Dr. And both of our high our comprehensive high schools have had uh for the last several years very strict uh um limitations for tardies and and and so our students have gotten pretty good about getting to to school and and getting to class on time after passing periods. So, uh they've already kind of fought that battle too, I think, the last few years. And uh really commend our students for stepping up and doing a much better job uh on on that as well. Okay. Any other questions for the board? We can go to for a motion if you guys are ready. >> Pro member Jeff Morgan. I make a motion to approve policy 1033 wireless communication device policy. >> Gary Trip second. >> Okay. Motion second. And all in favor? >> I. Any
087opposed? >> Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And David, I'm good on doing all in favors on the on the policies, right? I think. >> It's just our one. >> Yeah, that's what Yeah. Well, the other one I just needed time. All right. Next is um we have two first readings. Our first is for policy 406 um trips for students. And the other is for policy 744, travel, pdeium and mileage payments. And Mike Baker, chief operations officer, will present both. >> Okay. and good evening Cleveland and members of the school board. I'll kind of lump number five and number six together because essentially we're we're asking for something that's very similar. So the process was a number of years ago. Um and the the then school board they wanted to actually authorize uh
088the travel of staff and students um as they come up through the the the fiscal year. We've been doing this for a number of years. And so what has happened is essentially working with specifically once again Mr. Rush uh Dr. on on the process and trying to streamline the entire process. And so we want to create efficiencies and we want to save money. And we believe that this is one step in essentially two steps where we could actually save the district um some money, save you all some time and uh streamline some of those processes. So some of the difficulties that we have as you know um a lot of these uh travel whether it be staff or whether it be students um comes at the last minute. And so as you know we have
089very successful um uh fine arts programs, athletic programs and many time they reach the playoffs. And so they literally have two days to plan typically when they get notice that they're in the playoffs and whether there's going to be a home game or whether they're going to have to travel. And then everybody is just just stopping what they're doing, figuring out, okay, how we going to make this happen. One of the hurdles is um coming to the school board for that process. Now, in many cases, it doesn't stop the process. It just makes it a little bit um more cumbersome. And so on the staff side typically is when um it's in their budget uh and a staff is looking at furthering their professional development. Um typically things move very quickly. It's like okay I
090have to register for the class. I have to buy airline tickets and that's the biggie and I have to get hotel reservations. Typically the sooner you do that uh the more money you save. And so what happens sometimes is uh we have to put it on the agenda, sometimes we just have to wait two weeks, uh sometimes longer depending on the agenda. Um and I know Dr. Cleveland is very cognizant of not having too much on one agenda and not enough on another agenda. So uh the request is to streamline this process uh where Dr. Cleveland essentially would authorize all travel whether it be by staff or whether it be by student. Um I do want to say this is that the funds are already in the budget. So essentially that the the the travel
091has already been authorized by the school board. But one of the things I thought about is well how can we do a better job in communicating that? So when you look in the budget, you know, it's hundreds and hundreds of pages long. So if the board desires, what we could do is we could tease out all that travel and maybe put it in a summary document where you can easily see, okay, athletics is planning on spending X amount going generally to these locations. Um, typically we have a good understanding of where they're going, but typically not exactly. Same thing with uh the performing arts folks is okay where are they going? Typically we know um by the end of budget where they will likely go. Of course we don't know 100% very similar to staff.
092Uh typically uh they have an idea on where they want to go for professional development. Um but usually the details are not teased out at that time but we can put that in a simple document. we could provide for the transparency in the beginning of the fiscal year. Um and essentially that would be I think the approval from the board that okay we're spending this much money on travel on professional development on student travel for athletics for fine arts. We think that that will streamline the process. Second step that we have to do is we need to change our internal processes and I know uh the executive director David Vhel and finance is doing just that. Um trying to streamline that process specifically on on reimbursement and right now it's very very cumbersome. Uh and
093we need to create some efficiencies um in this regard. Now kind of the way I look at it is essentially there's three decisions that you all can make. one is that you could you say uh you know what we're satisfied with the process as it is we don't want to change. Second possibility is to say you know what uh what you're saying makes a lot of sense uh we want to save a little bit of money. We trust that you're going to do the right thing. We we trust in Dr. Cleveland and and maybe that's an overstatement but um and we see that it's already in the budget. Uh, so we're willing to give pre-approval rather than each individual trip. And then thirdly, you could say, well, let's give it a shot. Let's see how
094it's going to work out. Let's see what the efficiencies are and, uh, let's see how it goes. So, uh, with that, I I will open for questions. >> Okay. Uh, Gary Trip, any questions on these? >> I don't have any questions. just I have a thought and I think the second thing Mike brought up is what I was thinking about what I was thinking about is is pre-approval by the um by the superintendent and preapproval from the budget. All that sounds good. Um what I was thinking about is how to make it very transparent to the public when the board minutes. So I know it's part now it's part of like the condensed part of the package of the agenda but just how do we just make sure it's very transparent because I think everything's
095been done right and accordingly and I think one of the big things you always get is that the community know or whatever but how could we how could we frame it at every board meeting that this is what's going on you know so we pre-approve it at the beginning of the year the budget the superintendent approves as it goes on, but every maybe board me minute, the public knows what's going on on a ongoing basis during the school year. So I I really don't have any problems. Just how do we make it very transparent, you know? So >> that's a com my com. >> Yeah. Mike, my only question is uh we we use the word advance multiple times in the letter, but but yet we're we're trying to approve giving people the immediate opportunity
096to make these decisions. So, I'm just are we still looking for advanced time or are we at giving this decision to be made by these individuals whenever they need to be made? So for an example, one in line, all school sponsored trips that require students to travel outside of the state of New Mexico require advanced board approval. But your description was what if we have to make a decision within a matter of days? >> Yeah. So, I think what we're doing here is uh overnight travel within the state of New Mexico must have advanced approval um by the superintendent instead of the school board. Outside the state of New Mexico for students, it would still be approval by the board. And one of the reasons is that outside travel from students is is a very
097irregular um opportunity for students. It doesn't it doesn't happen. >> And and that's not one that we get. You do well in the playoffs or whatever it is or then all of a sudden you got to go to Texas. >> Well, typically not necessarily in the playoffs. >> Okay. >> But but you are going to have to who knows where you're going to travel to. But yeah, and that's kind of what I'm asking. So, will the board have time? That's what I'm asking. Will we have time to respond if all of a sudden Rio Rancho Football has said they got to go here now because of whatever. That's kind of what I'm asking at the end of the day. And I don't even know if it happens that often, Todd. But >> yeah, >> Todd
098would have a better. So, how this looks at the end of every regular season >> football, basketball, baseball, >> the NMAA hosts a bracket, you know, like a like a sweet 16 or a bracket release on Sunday morning following district tournament or the last district games. >> Sometimes games are played as soon as Wednesday. we can go in assuming okay we're looking at about a 14 seed so we might have to go to Mayfield you know those types of situations okay so that's kind of what we're looking at addressing here with this situation >> and in addition to that >> softball and baseball poses a um a different challenge because those are three game series that first goaround so that is an overnight stay >> so if you know if hey look if we're if
099we're a top eight seed, we'll be okay because we'll host >> a chance. What What if we weren't? What if, you know, what if for some reason we were a a 15 seed? You know, I think Rio Rancho girls basketball a couple years ago had to go to Hobs play their first round game. So, and they find out as soon as that selection show, you know, it finishes and that's for every season just about. >> But Todd, that's mostly all instate, right? So, the chances of that happening out of state. So, it's fine that the board's approving, I guess. >> Yeah. So, it's So, those instate ones are those immediate attention ones, right, that we're that we're worried about the we're not worried the out of state ones. Is that I don't even know if
100that's state is that a state statute or something that we have that the board has to approve even the out of state ones. >> Just out of curiosity since we have it written that way. Okay. No, it's fine. >> But, I just want to make sure that you have what you need is what I'm saying. Yeah. all of a sudden we do have to go out of state and it has to be approved by us and >> we have had and it's not in athletics but we have had academic um opportunities several years ago we had I think it was national history be and we knew at the last minute we had people that were qualified to go I I might have that wrong so if you remember please give us the particulars but it's
101the same thing they were going out of state what what comes to me most of the time and and the board has always said in an emergency you can sign it. >> And so this kind of makes that more official. >> But what often comes to me in in both instate and out of state is okay, we've got these students going and we can wait if we wait until the board meets again, kids can't go at all. >> Right? And you also have a situation in which probably more more frequently is the the airline tickets are going up by the day significantly. Do you want us to pay that much more later or do you want us to go ahead and get our tickets now? But but go ahead and >> Stephanie is for science
102fair because we like they go to Sakoro for state and ISP is less than two weeks away >> and we have with the exception of this last year we have for probably the last 10 years sent at least one if not multiple students and their sponsors to the international science fair. So >> national history day is also and then typically we know about DECA which is national ahead of time, but things like science fair are a very quick turnaround for us. >> Okay. So, well then to to Jeff Morgan's thought there like we're doing the one within the state. Do we need to do outside of the state too where it's being approved by Dr. Cleveland versus >> that's where I'm going. >> I think that's a really good point. >> Okay. >> You know
103what? I better not push my luck. >> I was thinking about that very thing. But if you go to policy 406, I think it's the fourth paragraph down. It does say in circumstances where advanced board approval for out of state cannot be reasonably obtained which is is many of the cases uh the superintendent >> may approve it and then after it's approved >> okay >> um inform uh the board >> ratify >> so if the board wishes uh we could simplify this and have you know Dr. ally been approved. >> I knew David was looking. Did you want to add >> president to confirm the the board or its >> design could could approve this and that's perm statute just wants to make sure that the public body or its design >> is making advanced
104decisions when it comes to expenditure. So you could delegate that authority. >> Okay. So it's up to the board if we want to delegate both of those. So right now, so right as it's written, it's we just have the overnight within New Mexico. So we could also, and Mike said he didn't want to push his luck on us, but we could also do that for out of state travel. It is covered though in that other policy if it does come up. >> I think more so we want to do it because I think we have more academic things that come up like that. >> It it makes it cleaner if it's in the policy and it's very clear to everyone. I will tell you that we try very very hard to send everyone to the
105board >> and only in those really few instances where time is a an issue. It's the only time we do that and then you see that because you get all of that travel in the board book um on on a um by monthly basis. So we try very hard to take it through the regular process. These are just a few unusual kinds of circumstances. And it's like it's like athletic playoffs or it's like a team going to the international science fair or we get hot I think a couple years ago some going to the national uh history be they find out and they've got to buy tickets right away in order to get there or and so in the past the board has said we don't want any student to not get to go because
106we weren't able to meet in time to take care of it >> and that's when that kind of informal thing was given to me in those situations go in and sign it and let us No, this would make it more formal and it would put it in in actually in the policy. Uh and and I will just add this didn't come from me at all. Didn't come from me at all. It came from the finance office because of some of the issues that we had had. Um so this is not coming from from me. >> Yeah. And I think that would be the biggest thing is is that we still just would see the travel, right? So so then there's eyes on it. Um, but if if the if we're all in agreeance, then we
107can change that second one too to just be to our design. So, okay. >> Okay. You like score? >> I like efficiency and you're still happy. So, >> all right. I don't think there's anything else on this one. We'll see the second meeting. >> Yeah. So, we'll see the second reading next meeting. We're missing two board members tonight, so maybe they'll have >> Yeah. I let Mike get them up. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. Um, as far as advanced planning goes, please just refer to the agenda. Um, but take note that school is starting on there's a jump start day on the 6th and then first day of school on the 7th. So, >> that's the look at that. I don't know how I feel about that, Claudia, that you
108You just stressed me out. All right. Anything else? Anything? Any questions on advanced planning or any calendaring? Anything? Good. Okay. Our meetings adjourned for tonight. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you.